More by David Welch

How you carry yourself inthe train station says a lotabout the Constitution what it lets you experience inthe eyes of the engineersand how one day you maybelieve it necessary to boardthe express out of townyou tell no one and in thisyou take your freedomyou take a cold sandwichfrom the thin man pushinghis cart down the aisle outsidethe trees impress the darknessof the train as you passinto the middle of Americaso much change rattlesaround in your head you knowyou cannot sleep youknow sleep is for thoseon slower land around their heads it is morning the alarmshave yet to sound this pleasesyou the trains are moving swiftly at their destinations

You meet someone and inside of themyou know there swellsa small country brimmingwith steel and beasts of labor.You love the countryand so you fear it.Its flora fascinates you.You wish to visit, thoughyou worry you won’twear the right clothes, that you'll failto order a drink, ask directions,assure the clerk in the flowershop you aren’t a thief.They’re only roses. They remind youof the one you love.Even with your eyes closedin your own mouth you’d knowthey’re roses.

The new mystery arrived at midnightand so the boy swished it like wine between his teeth.I feel now like I have a purpose, the boy said,and his audience acknowledged that they understoodand began to cheer as if watching a rabbit untangle itselffrom a poorly set trap. Dawn came and the mystery remained.Soon, the boy said, I will have for you a proposition.How will we know, asked his audience, that your proposition isin proportion to your purpose. You will know, said the boy,by how many rabbits you find waiting tonight in the woods.If tonight is a night of rabbits, you will see them inproportion to the trees. And if the rabbits are proportional,said the audience, we’ll understand the proportionsof your proposition. Yes, said the boy. The audiencedispersed. They went to go wait for the rabbits.The boy decided he would attend to his new mystery.Daylight passed and in the twilight the boy experienceda twitching on the edge of the trees. He called out to his audiencebut no one responded. He kicked the groundand the twitching only continued to grow more frantic.The boy decided he would make a proposition to god,though he knew it would be without purpose, and suddenlyhe understood how surrounded he was.